MALPRACTICE

The New York State Hospital Patients' Bill of Rights spells out quite clearly that, as a patient in a hospital in New York, you have the right to:

"Complain without fear of reprisals about the care and services you are receiving and to have the hospital respond to you and if you request it, a written response. If you are not satisfied with the hospital's response, you can complain to the New York State Health Department. The hospital must provide you with the state Health Department telephone number."

New York State officials have also established the Medical Indemnity Fund, which provides a funding source for the future health care costs of plaintiffs in medical malpractice actions, "who have suffered birth-related neurological injuries as the result of medical malpractice during a delivery admission, and are qualified plaintiffs; as defined in the law."

You go to a doctor or hospital for medical treatment. Something goes wrong, or something goes very wrong. When you place your health and wellness in the hands of doctors, hospitals, and caregivers, you have rights under the law to hold them accountable. If they fail to do the right thing, attorneys Frank Phillips and Jeffrey Millman are here to guide you through the legal nuances of making sure they are held accountable, that your health remains a priority and that you are compensated for what went wrong.

"Medical malpractice and negligence claims are among the most difficult and emotionally sensitive cases for lawyers and their clients," reads the website for Phillips & Millman. "Phillips & Millman’s attorneys have the experience, insights, and compassion to help people injured by doctors, hospitals or other medical caregivers prove their cases and successfully seek the compensation they deserve and need to resume their normal lives."

According to an analysis from the Hofstra University Maurice A. Deane School of Law:

  • 10 percent of deaths in the U.S. are caused by medical errors or mistakes.
  • From 2006 to 2016, there were payments made for medical
    malpractice...requiring 60,788 practitioners to seek reinstatement.
  • The top four states where these incidents occurred were California, Texas, Florida and New York.

According to the National Institutes of Health, In law, medical malpractice is considered a specific area within the general domain of negligence. It requires four conditions (elements) be met for the plaintiff to recover damages. These conditions are: duty; breach of duty; harm; and causation.

Believe it or not, one of the legal cases that changed the definition of the standard of care, as applied today in medical malpractice law, is linked to a tugboat, according to the National Institutes of Health.

The case of The T.J. Hooper in 1932 helped to alter how the legal profession thought about custom and the standard of care. In this case, the owner of the tugboat T.J. Hooper was sued for the value of two barges. The tugboat had been caught in a storm and the two barges it was transporting sunk. The owners of the barges charged that the T.J. Hooper was unsafe for duty at sea as it did not have a radio receiver to review important storm warnings. In addition, they charged that it was customary for tugboats to have this radio receiver. They claimed that if the T.J. Hooper had a radio, they could have been warned of the storm and avoided it.

In reviewing the case during appeal, Justice Learned Hand ruled in favor of the barge owners; however, he did not do so based on custom. He indicated that it was not in fact customary for tugboats to be outfitted with the receivers, but that since the practice was reasonable, the owners of the T.J. Hooper could be held liable for damages...

Courts must in the end say what is required; there are precautions so imperative that even their universal disregard will not excuse their omission. In other words, if there is a practice that is reasonable but not universally customary it may still be used as a measure of the standard of care.

Victims of medical malpractice have been wronged and have suffered at the hands of medical professionals and medical facilities entrusted with a duty that is sacred like no other — maintaining the health of the citizenry, from our joyous newborns to our esteemed senior citizens.

Medical malpractice for the layperson can be overwhelming and could consume you whole if you don't have a legal professional by your side, to help navigate the tangles. You've suffered enough medically. Take command of your situation legally with Phillips & Millman.

During their years of practice, Phillips & Millman’s attorneys have formed relationships with many of the area’s top malpractice experts, which helps ensure that our clients' cases are fully and accurately reviewed and clearly presented in court, reads pmlawny.com, the Phillips & Millman website. To learn more about what qualifies as medical malpractice or negligence, we encourage you to have a free, no-obligation consultation with one of our attorneys.

They will review your situation, discuss your options and help you identify the best course of action for your case.